# Ender's Shadow

Ender's Shadow (1999) is a parallel science fiction novel by the American author Orson Scott Card, taking place at the same time as the novel Ender's Game and depicting some of the same events from the point of view of Bean, a supporting character in the original novel. It was originally to be titled Urchin, but it was retitled Ender's Shadow prior to release. Ender's Shadow was shortlisted for a Locus Award in 2000.

## Plot summary

Ender's Game series :
Chronology :
In chronological order
Earth Unaware
Earth Afire
Earth Awakens
The Swarm
The Hive
The Queens
"Mazer in Prison"
"The Polish Boy"
"Teacher's Pest"
"Pretty Boy"
"Cheater"
Ender's Game
'Recruiting Valentine'
A War of Gifts
Ender's Shadow
'The League War'
Children of the Fleet
Ender in Exile
Shadow of the Hegemon
Shadow Puppets
Shadow of the Giant
Shadows in Flight
"Investment Counselor"
Speaker for the Dead
Xenocide
Children of the Mind
The Last Shadow :
In publication order
Ender's Game
Speaker for the Dead
Xenocide
Children of the Mind
Ender's Shadow
Shadow of the Hegemon
Shadow Puppets
First Meetings
Shadow of the Giant
A War of Gifts: An Ender Story
Ender in Exile
Shadows in Flight
Earth Unaware
Earth Afire
Earth Awakens
The Swarm
Children of the Fleet
The Hive
The Last Shadow
The Queens :
vte    Chart :
| Short Stories | Novels | Comics | Audioplay | Film |
Ender's Game :
Formic Wars: Burning Earth (2011) :
Earth Unaware (2012) :
Mazer in Prison :
Mazer in Prison :
The Swarm (2016) :
Ender's Shadow (1999) :
Battle School (2009) :
* Ultimate collection (2012) |||||
Ender's Game Alive (2013) :
Ender's Game (1977) :
Ender's Game (1985) :
Battle School (2009) :
* Ultimate collection (2012) |||||
Ender's Game (2013) :
Ender's Stocking (2007) :
* War of Gifts (2009) |||||
Shadow of the Hegemon (2001) :
Ender's Homecoming (2008) :
* A Young Man with Prospects (2007) |||||
* A Young Man with Prospects (2007) |||||
* The Gold Bug (2007) |||||
Ender in Exile (2008) :
Children of the Fleet (2017) :
Speaker for the Dead (2011) :
* Gloriously Bright (1991) |||||
Speaker for the Dead (1986) :
1 2 3 The events of Ender's Game, Ender's Shadow and A War of Gifts take place in roughly the same time period. The events of A War of Gifts only take place during the time at Battle School).
1 2 The events of Ender in Exile and the Shadow Trilogy take place in roughly the same time period. - First part of Ender in Exile (2/3) takes place during the Shadow Trilogy. - Last part of Ender in Exile (1/3) takes places after Shadow of the Giant.
1 2 Note on the following (maybe not yet so common) Trilogies: "Speaker Trilogy": Original set of sequels to Ender's Game, also referred to as: - "Ender Quartet" (Ender's Game combined with "Speaker Trilogy"), also referred to as: - "Ender Quintet" ("Ender Quartet" combined with Ender in Exile). "Shadow Trilogy": Original set of sequels to Ender's Shadow, also referred to as: - "Bean Quartet"/"Shadow Quartet" (Ender's Shadow combined with "Shadow Trilogy"), also referred to as: - "Bean Quintet"/"Shadow Quintet" ("Bean Quartet" combined with Shadows in Flight), could be referred to as: - "Bean Sextet"/"Shadow Sextet" ("Bean Quintet" combined with The Last Shadow)
↑ Title is also mentioned in regard to a possible sequel for the film. :
vte :
Bean is a homeless child living on the hellish streets of Rotterdam around 2170 after escaping as an infant from an illegal genetic engineering laboratory. Highly intelligent and extremely young, he is on the brink of dying from starvation, but manages to convince a nine-year-old named Poke to let him join her band of homeless children by offering her an idea. He tells Poke she should recruit an older bully to help fend off other bullies who prevent the younger children from eating at a local soup kitchen. She chooses Achilles, a bully with a bad leg; Bean realizes that Achilles is too intelligent and dangerous a choice, but is unable to change Poke's mind. Achilles is able to manipulate Poke's group, and eventually kills Poke.
Bean's incredible intelligence, creativity and determination bring him to the attention of Sister Carlotta, a nun who is recruiting children for the International Fleet (IF) for a war of survival against the alien Buggers. She gets him admitted to Battle School, despite official resistance and skepticism about his background. Bean has to overcome being much younger and smaller than the other child recruits and faces scrutiny when it is revealed that he scored record highs in all of the school's mental tests. As he proves himself, they constantly compare him to Ender Wiggin, another prodigy who preceded him. Bean begins to ferret out secrets and truths about the school. Meanwhile, Sister Carlotta uncovers Bean's past.
Ender has been chosen as the best chance to save humanity from the Buggers; Bean comes to be the backup in case Ender breaks down. Bean is assigned to draw up the roster for Ender's army. At first, Ender does not appear to recognize Bean's brilliance, but time shows that he was grooming Bean and he finally puts Bean in charge of a special new platoon to handle extraordinary missions. Ender wins combat games against the other, more established school armies; as time goes on, the other side is given more and more unfair advantages, but Ender never loses. Achilles joins Battle School, having also been selected for his intelligence and now with his leg healed. Bean concocts a scheme to trap Achilles and make him confess to multiple murders, including Poke's, revealing that he is a sociopath bent on killing anyone who has seen or made him helpless. The IF arrests Achilles.
Eventually, Bean and other students graduate from Battle School to work under Ender, who now commands one side in electronically simulated battles; he is told that his foe is Mazer Rackham, the legendary hero who saved humanity from the Second Invasion. However, Bean deduces from various clues (such as the lack of speed-limit induced communication delay in the simulation) that the "simulations" are real battles: Ender and his "jeesh" are commanding human fleets attacking Bugger planets via the Ansible, an instantaneous communications device. The pace increases and the enemy forces become stronger and stronger. Through it all, Ender keeps on winning, but he begins to break down under the pressure; at times, Bean gives the jeesh additional commands. In the final battle at the Buggers' home planet, Ender faces seemingly impossible odds; his only edge is a weapon—"Dr Device"—that can start a chain reaction that destroys matter, but only if the matter is concentrated enough. Ender freezes, unable to come up with a plan, until Bean's prompt (inadvertently) shows him how they can win. With the victory, Ender commits genocide on the Buggers.
Throughout the book, Bean struggles against the IF administration and how they push Ender, seemingly willing to break him to achieve their goals. Bean also has to contend with his past and his struggle to understand what makes Ender human and better than him.
Bean also makes friends with an older boy named Nikolai who is drawn to Bean because of their similar looks. It is soon discovered, through Sister Carlotta's research, that the two boys are genetic twins, except for Bean's genetic enhancements. When Bean was illegally genetically engineered, the scientist Volescu had "turned Anton's Key," meaning that Bean's body—including his brain—will never stop growing, which will result in a premature death between the ages of fifteen and twenty-five. Sister Carlotta ensures that Bean will get to live with Nikolai and his parents after the war. At the end of the story, after they defeat the buggers, Bean is united with his real parents and Nikolai.
Ender's Shadow is the first of a series that includes Shadow of the Hegemon, Shadow Puppets, Shadow of the Giant, Shadows in Flight, and The Last Shadow.

## Comics

A five-issue comic book limited series based on Ender's Shadow, called Ender's Shadow: Battle School. was released on December 3, 2008. It was written by Mike Carey, with art by Sebastian Fiumara.

## Awards

The novel has received numerous awards, including:
* New York Times bestseller (Fiction, 1999)
* SF Site Reader's Choice (1999)
* Alex Awards (2000)
* ALA Best Books for Young Adults (2000)
* Geffen Award (Best Translated Science Fiction Book, 2001)
* ALA Popular Paperbacks for Young Adults (2004)

## Translations

* Chinese: "安德的影子"
* Czech: "Enderův stín"
* Hebrew: "הצל של אנדר"
* Dutch: "Enders Schaduw"
* Polish: "Cień Endera"
* Russian: "Тень Эндера"
* Spanish: "La sombra de Ender"
* Romanian: "Umbra lui Ender"
* French: "La Stratégie de l'Ombre" ("The Shadow's Strategy")
* German: "Enders Schatten"
* Hungarian: "Ender árnyéka"
* Korean: "엔더의 그림자"
* Bulgarian: "Сянката на Ендър"